Chapter 1
Outside, the cloudy overcast set a dark shadow over Wammy's house. A boy with black bed head hair and black eyes stared out the window at the other few kids running around outside. He wasn't social and didn't like large crowds. Yet he was somewhat envious of their joy and happiness. Watari had opened the Wammy's house for intellectually gifted orphans. He was the first one to live there. He was the one who was there to watch Watari set up the orphanage. Watari was raising him as the boy wanted to be raised. He funded what the boy wished to be. What he wanted to be was a detective; someone who solved the crimes that couldn't be solved by others. He rarely slept to stay up and study, work on the things he wanted. He wanted all his time to be away from people, and yet… Just one newbie was bugging him all the time, always asking for his help or to join him in his work. Her name was Katsumi.
"Watari, can you bring me some sugar cubes and coffee, please?"
"It's a little too early for your type of coffee," Watari said from the door.
"Oh… well how about some tea, then?" He said. Watari nodded.
"That's good." He walked out the door. As soon as he left, the little girl came in. She was wearing her usually green dress with white frill around the edges to match her green eyes. Her black hair was up in a ponytail today.
"L! Hi! I need help with this thing," She said, waving around a thick packet. L sighed.
"I told you, L is the name I'm saving when I become a detective! Call me Ryuzaki!"
"Ok… Ryuzaki… I need help with something again!" She sat down at his feet, tugging on his pants leg. He crouched down like he always did and put his hand out. She gave him the packet.
"What do you need help on?" He asked, a little annoyed.
"It's on this page. Problem number 177. I forget the formula of computer code on a pager. I don't know how to figure it out!" She whined. Ryuzaki flipped the pages and stopped on one. He held it out.
"Here's the formula," He said. She looked at the page, then Ryuzaki.
"Darn it!!" She snatched the packet away. She took out a pencil, flipped back to the page her problem was on and quickly wrote down the answer.
"Thanks! Hey, I got a new puzzle today. You wanna put it together with me?" She asked.
"No thank you, I have to solve this little bank robbery mystery that took place over in Brazil."
"Oh! Did you figure out what system they used yet?" She asked. Ryuzaki sighed. He hated it when she tried to get involved with his work.
"Yes… but I don't really get how they hacked into the Bank's security system with nothing more than a pen, a bobbin of wire and a mirror…" He said. Ryuzaki saw her thinking. Katsumi grinned.
"If you show me what you've gotten done so far, I'll tell you!" She chimed. He groaned.
"I'd rather think of it myself, thank you…"
"Hey! I'm the computer and technology freak of this place! I can figure it out!"
"You're two years younger than me… I doubt your normally small brain could figure anything like this out."
"You know, girls mature faster than boys." Ryuzaki bit his thumb.
"I don't care. That's behavior. I'm talking about mental age. And it's most likely vice versa. I'm eight four percent sure." Katsumi stuck her tongue out.
"Well fine! But I'm telling you, if you just tell me what system of security the bank used then I could tell you how they got in!" She said. Ryuzaki looked at his stack of papers, then at Katsumi.
"Fine. They used the usual Brazilian electronics method." She smiled.
"Oh! Really? Well no wonder then got in! You just have to put the wire through the key slot until it reaches through and pokes the other side. There's a button opposite of the keyhole that can momentarily shut down all security equipment. It's just used for things like cleaning and tuning up the stuff they use to keep track of it all. When it shuts that down, the locks on everything except the bank boxes are opened. So, whichever control box they chose it most likely on the roof of the bank, since the system is set up like a nervous system, the one on top is like the brain. Then they took the pen and stabbed some wires to make the falter. They also probably used the pen to pick through some things until they found the camera wires. The most likely cut those off and then went inside the bank. They went to the main vault, where the money is, and used the mirror to redirect the main laser beam to it's home. Because, as you should know, all laser systems are actually just one beam reflecting off a few dozen mirrors. There's only one sensor and that's supersensitive. So one stayed behind on the roof, and in the vault the keep the laser redirected," She explained. Ryuzaki nodded.
"So that does mean there were four to five people…" He muttered.
"Yeah. But it shouldn't be that hard to find them. Every basic Brazilian security system has a hacker's code that can keep track of any time, date, and year of when the system is disturbed. It also has a few backup cameras." Ryuzaki blinked.
"It does?"
"Well, yeah. But it's hard to get those to really work since the backup cameras are the regular cameras themselves… You can only see a really faint outline of what happens behind the picture of what was there while the camera was working. It's hard to see," She said. Watari came in with a jug of tea and a cup filled with sugar cubes.
"Katsumi, what are you doing in here? Aren't you supposed to be doing your exercises?"
"But I just needed some help! And L-" He glared at her.
"I mean… Ryuzaki is the only person who isn't really busy or really stupid!" Watari chuckled.
"Don't call your friends stupid, now," He said.
"But they don't even know what computer codes are!" She whined. Ryuzaki stood up.
"I think what she's trying to say is that she doesn't like most of the kids here, Watari," He said. She nodded and grinned. Watari put the tea on a table to take Katsumi's hand.
"I understand that. But interrupting Ryuzaki's work is very rude. You have to learn to do these things your self and to also communicate with others," He said.
"But… I don't like to…" She said.
"Katsumi, if you promise Watari to play with other kids, then I promise to help you and let you work with me on some crimes that involve any type of computer work. Ok?" Ryuzaki said, filling a cup up with tea.
"Ok!" She said cheerfully. She ran out of the room and down the hallway.
"Watari, can you tell me again how in the world you came across her?" He asked.
"Well, she was actually at one of the electronics stores. She was trying to use a camera as a calculator."
"That's not possible, is it?"
"Well, she made it possible. She ended up getting kicked out."
"Oh… That's a shame… That's just the first time you saw her, right?"
"Yes. The time I actually confronted her was when she was just playing with a pencil and started writing some on paper in computer code. I could only read some of it," Watari said.
"Computer language is a difficult thing to understand. It involves so many ones and zeros it's almost like sign language… but with two numbers. I wonder how she came to understand it…"
"Ryuzaki, you must know that Katsumi isn't all about numbers and computers, she's also very literate and can understand many languages. She's also on the way to becoming a major in science already," He said.
"High school level or college?"
"She a freshman college level as of now."
"Hmm.. Interesting… now I need to work on this, Watari, please?" He said. Watari bowed and left. Ryuzaki wrote something down on paper and put it next to another.
"So… if these files are correct… the fingers prints should be on… the ladder… but I should have the police look for any footprints down the ally way behind the bank…" The sun began to set. Ryuzaki turned on one light next to his workspace and continued on the investigation.
The moon was high and bright. Some clouds hid the stars. Ryuzaki was starting to doze off. His door opened slowly. A head peeked in. Katsumi crept in and slowly shut the door. She crawled on her knees to Ryuzaki's side. She set down a few pictures and a piece of paper. As quietly as she could, she crept back to the door and opened it.
"Watari?" Ryuzaki moaned. He rubbed his eyes and looked down at the pictures Katsumi put next to him. He picked them up with his forefinger and thumb and examined them. He saw the paper next to the pictures and picked it up.
"Names? Fingerprints? Who did this…?" He heard a creak behind him. He turned his head around and saw the door closing. He set the pictures down and walked to the door. He opened it and looked around, Katsumi was quietly running down the hall to her room. He sighed and closed the door.
"She gets too involved with everything I do…"
